Deal With The ADHD Doubters

There are people out there who doubt that ADHD exists. And sadly, some of them are people who think that saying something in a loud or strong tone makes them right.

There are people out there who will tell you that, because of the flawed logic they have applied to their investigations of ADHD, they know more about it than others. The ones who claim to be able to cure or remediate ADHD with diet or brain training come to mind.

And what all these people have in common is a need to isolate us and make us feel like we’re wrong. Either we’re wrong in thinking we have a disorder, since they’ll happily tell us that it doesn’t exist or possibly doesn’t persist into adulthood, or we’re wrong to think that diet won’t help or that mind tricks won’t fix it. If nothing else, we’re just wrong to think that we deserve to be taken into consideration since we’re just one of a kind.

What I learned on the internet today …

Here in Canada, one of our TV channels is called CTV. On it there is a morning news show called Canada AM. One of the news anchors, Jeff Hutchison, does a bit called “Things I learned on the internet today.” It’s always entertaining and often funny.

Well, here’s a couple of things that I’ve learned on the internet myself. Sadly, they’re not so funny. I’ve learned that the internet is the place where a lot of this negative stuff I’ve been talking about today is offered to unsuspecting people. I’ve learned that it’s easy to make these things appear palatable and real, even believable.

But that’s not all …

” … I’ve found that we are happier when we don’t feel alone … “

Thanks to my getting to write a blog, and my talking about adult ADHD on Facebook and twitter, I’ve also found we’re not alone. There are lots of us. And I’ve found that we are happier when we don’t feel alone, when we know there are others of our mind set out there. We really do find strength in numbers, synergistic strength.

Finding others is one of the proactive things we can do for ourselves. It’s one of the ways we can accept our ADHD, a positive step toward improving our lives.

There’s more

Another positive thing we can do is to get a diagnosis. This is important. And if it’s possible, get a diagnosis from someone who is a mental health care professional. I know people who have been diagnosed by their general practitioner, I’m betting that’s saved some lives. But a mental health care professional should be able to offer some insight and advice that may tip the scales, changing a diagnosis from a good thing to a great thing.

What about the doubters?

Turnabout is fair play. I just tell them that if they insist on saying such obviously erroneous things, I’m going to have to question everything else they have an opinion on.

I mean, if they’re so obviously wrong about this, what else are they wrong about?

About Kelly Babcock

I was born in the city of Toronto in 1959, but moved when I was in my fourth year of life. I was raised and educated in a rural setting. I live in an area where my family history stretches back 6 or more generations. I was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 50 and have been both struggling with the new reality and using my discoveries to make my life better.